A/N: This is going get better from here and a little different too… Onwards to the next chapter…
Disclaimer – I don't own Fairy Tail.
Chapter 6: Unexpected loss.
The three kids looked at Erica with question marks flying over their heads. Then came Natsu rushing in with a backpack fully loaded for travel. Their doubts were instantly cleared.
"Here he is!" said Erica pointing towards Natsu. Said person gave a charismatic grin in return.
"But why the addition?" asked Mira.
"Coz Natsu also wanted to go on an S-Class mission!" said Erica with a, not-so-easily-noticeable sinister, smile. "And you might want help as this is your first S-Class monster apprehension mission".
The three just agreed with Lisanna being the most excited about the addition of another team member. Both Mira and Erica were pleased with the development but didn't show it outside so as not spoil the fun. Then the four took the flyer and registered for the quest and took off to complete it.
Makarov turned to look at Erica and asked her why she added Natsu to an already capable team of mages. She replied as a mother's intuition. But she knew the feeling she had was not a good one and to avoid it from bothering her, she sent Natsu. Just to make sure that the three returned safe and sound. She didn't worry about Natsu as she knew her son was fully capable of surviving in the wilderness all alone.
During the travel Mira and Natsu were the only ones engaged in a one-sided conversation. The other two just kept quiet knowing the outcome of the 'conversation'. They just watched from the side-lines, actually more like enjoyed it.
"Where is this request flyer coming from?" Natsu asked to Mira. He got a reply "A town near Magnolia".
"How far is it from here?" asked Natsu again. To which the reply was a small and a little less enthusiastic "Pretty close".
"How long will it take to get there?" said Natsu again. "It won't take much longer" was the less enthusiastic and slightly annoyed answer.
"What kind of monster are we going to fight?" said Natsu. "It's the king of monsters!" said Mira with annoyance increasing with every word.
"What is the reward money?" Natsu fired another question at Mira.
"WE'LL GET TO KNOW THAT WHEN WE GET THERE. SO QUIT YOUR QUESTIONING!" snapped Mira.
"Fine. Don't have to yell at me!" said Natsu in a low and weak voice.
"What was that?" asked Mira with venom pouring out in her voice.
"Nothing really" said Natsu with a monotone voice. But internally he was frightened, just a little bit though. 'Why do these girls have to be so dominant? I'll never understand them' thought Natsu looking at the sky.
"We've arrived" said Lisanna snapping the two conversing people to look at the indicated direction.
The town was half broken apart. Some houses had wooden boards attached to them indicating that they were under repair. Some of the roads had small craters in them showing that the town was definitely under need of mages and quick. Their wished were granted for the four had arrived. The four excited about the mission went into the town. As they walked through the town they saw very scarce population and also saw that most people avoided contact with the four. Luckily they found a person and enquired about the town mayor and went to his house.
Upon reaching they showed the request flyer to the mayor, who gave a very ecstatic look which also brought smiles to the fours' faces.
"So you four kids are going to kill the beast?" asked the mayor with doubt evident in his voice.
"We are more than capable of stopping this beast" said Elfman with confidence.
Relieved, the mayor described the whole incident when the beast had come into the village causing massive destruction. He told that the beast had come only twice and it had already destroyed half the town over a span of five days.
"You have to kill this monster. We can't suffer any more damage to the town!" said the mayor in a pleading tone and attempted puppy dog eyes.
The four agreed to helping the town to get rid of the beast all the while giving a disgusted look. The puppy dog eyes didn't look good, at all. After all an old geezer should behave like wise man with a little senile nature to show signs of aging. Not this kind of a you-know-what.
They cleared their minds of the old man's face, which was stuck to the memory in their brains like leech. Then the old man pointed that the beast, even though a monster, was quite intelligent. It had a den in the forest nearby and only hunted animals for food but also loved rampaging and destruction.
Gathering all the details they formulated a plan to defeat the beast. The plan was simple. Lisanna would be the bait, turning into her rabbit form and luring the beast out of his den. Mira would then weaken the beast and then Elfman would absorb the beast's soul and Natsu would do nothing.
"HEY! How come I don't get to do anything!" asked Natsu in a furious tone.
"Shut up idiot. You're back up if anything goes wrong" said Mira in a monotone and extremely unenthusiastic tone which infuriated Natsu even further.
"Hey! What's the big idea keeping me as back up!" retorted Natsu. "I can also help weaken the beast".
"I'm more than enough" replied Mira. "You can just stay put and watch how an S-Class mage fights. Anyways you were backup right from the very beginning".
Not able to argue with the point stated Natsu just kept quiet. "Fine let's get this over with already" said Natsu. "Man… what a bummer!" he muttered.
The four then followed the directions given by the mayor to get to the beast's den. As they approached it they noticed the greenery in the forest with trees laden with fruit all over the place.
"I gotta hand it to the guy. He definitely knows how to pick a den. Reminds me of Igneel a lot!" said Natsu, looking up into the sky with a sad smile.
"Hey Natsu, Igneel is watching from up there and must be happy too" comforted Lisanna.
"Yeah, thanks" replied Natsu. "Okay let's get the mission Apprehend-Beast started".
"Yeah!" was the reply of the other three with him.
Then Lisanna changed into her rabbit form. Looking at this Natsu couldn't avert his gaze at how cute and fluffy Lisanna was. He kept looking at Lisanna who was also happy at being noticed by Natsu. Both of this happened unconsciously until Mira intervened.
"Ahem! Ahem! Focus Lisanna!" said Mira snapping Lisanna and Natsu out of their trances. Followed by the two blushing madly at others' actions, and then continuing to their assigned tasks that is luring and doing nothing respectively.
"Tch! This is so boring!" said Natsu while waiting, as he watched the three siblings position themselves in their assigned areas of attack.
Lisanna approached the den albeit slightly frightened. She then tried looking inside the den but couldn't as it was too dark. Then she started to move inside very slowly when she was indicated by Mira. As soon as she took one step she placed her foot on a twig which snapped creating a sound which echoed through the den. Then two bright red orbs were visible which sent chills down her spine. Then a small growl was heard and the two orbs started growing in size. Growing… in size… the beast was approaching Lisanna. When she realized this this her mind had gone into overdrive mode.
"KYAAAHH!" screamed Lisanna as she ran out of the den followed by the beast. Natsu was literally rolling on the ground clutching his hurting stomach from all the laughing.
It was a massive beast. It was four times as large as Elfman was, who himself had quite the large body build for his age.
Then Mira, transforming into her Satan-Soul form, slid just under the beast's legs tripping it. The beast fell with a loud thud and created a crater the size and shape of itself. Then Mira flew into the air and charged up an "Evil Explosion" spell. It was quite large sphere and required large amount of magic. As the beast was trying to recover from the fall, Mira threw the energy ball at the beast which made contact and exploded. The smoke that had been kicked up cleared to reveal a severely injured beast barely hanging onto dear life by a string's support.
"Elfman, NOW!" signaled Mira, who then changed back into her normal form due low magic reserves.
Elfman came near the beast and put his hands on it and channeled his magic through it. Then he through the magic contract he captured the beast's soul and absorbed it. He instantly transformed into the beast but unfortunately lost control. This was not noticed until he didn't change form even though Mira told him to do so.
Mira realized it too late and was swatted away with great force by the beastified Elfman. Mira, who was not in her Satan form, suffered from some serious injuries. Looking at this both Lisanna and Natsu realized that the situation just turned bad. Natsu came down from his perch on a tree and darted towards the trio, whereas Lisanna, who had returned to her human form, approached Elfman hoping to talk some sense into him, but she didn't know Elfman thought otherwise.
"ELFMAN! Snap out of it! You've hurt Mira so badly! How is this manly in anyway?" Lisanna yelled at Elfman who just raised an arm in response.
As he brought his arm down to attack Lisanna, who just stood there thinking that this would help, Natsu intervened "Just… in… ti-" by pushing Lisanna out of the way, receiving the attack instead.
"Aah!" yelled Lisanna as she was pushed away. As soon as she recovered she saw a sight that almost brought her to tears. There she saw Natsu buried in the ground with the arm of the beast on top of Natsu's body. Mira who had just recovered from her injuries couldn't believe what just happened.
"HAAAH" Natsu pushed the hand of his back, jumped and landed a devastating "Fire Dragon's Iron Fist" on Elfman jaw, sending him flying a few meters.
"This is what… happens… when I leave… all the work… to you guys…" said Natsu in between heavy breaths. "What an irresponsible… sister you are, Mira" continued Natsu to which he got no reply.
Then Elfman just got out of the rubble not making any noise or cry of pain or annoyance. This indicated Natsu that Elfman was unconscious and only his body, taken over by the beast, was moving. Then he decided that beating Elfman was the best course of action.
"Time for a beat-down!" said Natsu as he flashed an evil smirk. "I've always wanted to beat the manly Elfman to a pulp".
The beast just stood there. Lisanna noticing Mira in the corner of the eye ran to help her. She helped her stand. Mira then told her to face her towards the two fighting.
"You have to knock him out! Annihilate him!" shouted Mira.
"Was just planning on that! Thanks for the permission though" Natsu replied back without facing the two girls.
Then Natsu lunged forward Elfman with a flaming cocked back and punched him. The punch connected and turned the beast a full round. The beast then tried retaliating by punching Natsu, who just dodged it and slammed a flaming elbow into Elfman's guts. Then not giving Elfman time to recover Natsu slid through Elfman's legs and after reaching the other side he jumped up high and hit Elfman with "Fire Dragon's Claw".
After landing he held his foot with which he had hit Elfman with. What he hit was too hard to damage or he didn't hit the right thing. Then he realized that the body wouldn't feel pain and so it wouldn't move to protect itself thus the full damage return. But before Natsu could get his mind back in the fight a hand came and grabbed his head. Elfman had reacted to the hit to his upper body when Natsu was busy recovering from his foot injury. Holding Natsu's head with bone-crushing grip he slammed it into the ground in front on him with great force, with the addition of the momentum gained from the spinning.
Seeing this both the girls cried out to Natsu, seeing the damage done to his little body. Elfman retreated his hand to reveal a heavy injured and bleeding Natsu. Elfman then started approaching the defenseless girls.
"ELFMAN! SNAP OUT OF IT! NOW YOU'VE HURT NATSU AS WELL!" yelled Lisanna.
"We have to fight. He won't listen to us now" said Mira, as she tried freeing herself from Lisanna's grip and standing on her legs, but in vain.
"Okay Mira, then I'll fight Elfman. You're in no condition to fight" replied Lisanna.
"I'M NOT DONE WITH YOU!" roared Natsu furiously as he flew towards Elfman with great speed.
As he was about to punch Elfman, Elfman ducked causing Natsu to miss. Then the next instant Elfman thrashed Natsu with a backhand sending him flying towards the girls.
"INCOMING!" shouted Natsu as came flying towards the girls.
Natsu flew through the air and crashed into the girls who were trying to evade the incoming helpless skid to a stop after a few meters. Natsu recovered the first and helped the girls, who got a good look at Natsu's condition. He was severely thrashed, bruised and bleeding all over his body. They could only gasp looking at Natsu who still had a smirk on his face though it was partly because of anger.
As Natsu was recovering he coughed up a lot of blood. This caused extreme worry to both the girls.
"Natsu you don't have to do this" said Mira. "Elfman is weak enough for Lisanna to handle".
"Yes! Please rest, you are very badly hurt" added Lisanna.
Natsu didn't reply to them and just stood up with his back facing them.
"Okay I didn't want to do this but sorry Elfman" said Natsu as he puffed his cheeks.
Elfman this time took the initiative to attack and charged towards Natsu.
"Fire Dragon's Roar" Natsu released his signature move. This was a well prepared one and had a lot of power, necessary in this kind of situation. The raging inferno of flames collided with the charging Elfman who was mere feet away from Natsu.
Natsu didn't stop his attack and continued for about a few seconds more. Assuming the best he cut his attack. The smoke had covered Elfman and didn't reveal his condition. Then Elfman burst out of the flames and slammed his fist into Natsu's gut, who was sent flying.
"NATSU, NO!" yelled Mira and Lisanna together, looking at the flying bloodied figure of Natsu, who had landed near them. Then they heard another loud thud. It was Elfman, he had finally been knocked out. They were relieved to find the task accomplished, but their quickly returned when they saw that Natsu hadn't moved for a while. It was indeed a worry because no matter how injured Natsu was, he would always try to get back up. But he didn't move this time at all.
As they saw that Elfman had returned to himself they quickly ran up to Natsu. Lisanna rested his head on her lap and saw that Natsu hadn't opened his eyes. Tears streamed down her face as well as Mira's face. Then Natsu slowly albeit weakly opened his eyes. They were relieved that Natsu was still alive.
"Natsu! You're… alright!?" asked Lisanna.
"Yeah… I guess" said Natsu softly. "But I can't feel my magic anymore".
That statement shocked the two girls to their very cores. Fresh tears flowed down both their faces. Both of them knew that magic was the life force of a mage. They can't survive without it.
"What are you talking about Natsu? What do you mean can't feel your magic? You're joking right…" said Mira with a hopeful smile all the while tears still flowing down her face.
"Why… would I… joke at a time… like this?" replied Natsu. He breathing was getting more and more erratic by the passing second.
"No, don't say that. Why did you go so far for us?" asked Lisanna. She too was crying.
"I… can't let a… cute little family… in front of me break up… you know!" said Natsu with a weak smile.
"Family you say…? Then what about your family? What will I say to them?" replied Mira. "Tell me, Natsu. How is that fair?".
"It's alright. I suppose I was just a tool to unite them" said Natsu with a sad smile. Natsu started to glow.
"What's happening? Natsu?" asked Mira and Lisanna.
"I wish I had more time but I guess my time is up" said Natsu as his body started to disintegrate into glowing magic particles.
"NOO! Don't say that! You can't go! Stay with me!" said Lisanna. "You can't leave m-us like this!" she continued now crying even more.
"I'm glad I could save the three of you" said Natsu in a soft tone. "Live on for me".
"Idiot! Why are you doing this to us?" said Mira. "I can't live with the fact that you are dying because of us. What am I going to say to Erica and LILY?".
Natsu didn't reply to that. He just gave a smile which made the girls cry even more. Natsu was almost gone when he spoke again.
"I'll be going now… Take care of yourselves" said Natsu. "And one more thing, don't blame Elfman or yourself for this. It was neither of your fault. It was what I did and entirely my fault." With that Natsu withered away into the air as magic dust particles.
"How can you say that?" was all Mira could manage.
Then the two girls finally gave into their feelings and cried. They cried a lot, because they couldn't do anything to save Natsu. It hurt even more when they realized that Natsu had done all of their work for them and left them safe, and out of harm way. That day was the worst day of their life. Then they snapped out of their actions, realizing that crying wasn't going to bring Natsu back, and took the unconscious Elfman to a local doctor to get their injuries dressed up.
Then while they were waiting in the hospital, Elfman had regained consciousness. He called for his sisters, who had extremely sullen faces. Their faces had tear marks running down the cheeks and bags under their eyes. He asked them about their condition and the how the mission and how he ended up in the hospital, completely forgetting Natsu. They didn't reply and didn't even bother looking at him and just had their faces hanging with a distant look on their faces. Then he realized that Natsu was missing and seeing their faces a chill ran down his spine.
He enquired about Natsu expecting something bad but the reply he got was totally unexpected and shocked him.
"He's gone. Natsu's gone, Elfman!" said Mira with her eyes threatening to cry.
"WHAT? HOW DID THAT HAPPEN?" asked Elfman, ignoring the 'not-possible' part of thought lingering in the corner of his head.
Then Mira explained the whole incident of how Elfman had lost control when he absorbed the beast's soul and how Natsu had fought him. Lisanna just stood near Mira quietly, with a distant and dead look on her. It was as her body had stopped all vital functions.
"So… I-I k-killed… N-Natsu!" said Elfman, not able to believe Mira's words, with a deathly pale look on his face realizing he had committed a grave mistake.
"N-No, you didn't do it, E-Elfman" said Mira as tears finally flowed down her cheeks. "It was all my fault".
"E-Even if you… s-say that…" replied Elfman now his eyes were watery. Then a tear fell down from his eye indicating that he too lost control of his emotions. He then silently let his tears flow.
After they were all healed they left the hospital and proceeded straight towards Fairy Tail not bothering to get the reward money at all, even though it was a hefty sum. They didn't bother changing their worn out clothes or cleaning themselves. They just went to Fairy Tail.
When were at the closed doors of the guild they were shivering. Because they didn't know a reason to stand in front of Erica or Lily. They didn't know what they were going to do once they were inside the guild when all of the members will've noticed Natsu missing. The very thought of revealing the news of Natsu's death to the guild members shook their very being, more so for Natsu's family members. Then they realized that they couldn't run away from the truth and had to face them some day or the other; might as well face them today.
So building up the courage they slowly pushed the doors of the guild hall and stepped forward. They were expecting to be greeted cheerfully by everyone, which only made them cringe because they were going to bring bad news.
As they stepped into the guild the last person whom they wanted to meet was the first to greet them. It only made matters for them. They didn't know how to react to the greeting as they just stood there with their face overshadowed by hair.
"So looks like the mission went well! Just look at you guys!" said Erica.
Mira bit her lip at the 'went well' part. Then came the faith-shattering question.
"So…? Where's Natsu? Don't tell you left him behind!" said Erica not realizing the tears that were about to fall from the three kids' eyes.
Not bring able to control their emotions they ran and hugged Erica and cried profusely.
"What happened? Don't tell me you got scared of an S-Class mission?" said Erica trying to cheer them up. "…Guess I'll have to ask Natsu when he comes".
"He won't be coming..." said Mira while crying. "He's gone… forever".
Hearing the shocking statement Erica pulled away from the hug and looked at the three crying kids. The others hearing the conversation were also extremely dumbfounded at the sudden revelation.
"WHAT ARE SAYING?" said the other members as they gathered around the three kids alerting the whole guild. Gray was the first to show up. Makarov who just heard the commotion couldn't believe himself what he had heard. Everyone was devastated when they heard the news.
Mira could only cry as she heard the people question about Natsu. The statement finally sinking into Erica caused tears to flow down her face while her hands traced their path to cover her mouth. Not believing the fact that Natsu, her son and savior had died.
"Igneel… I'm sorry! I couldn't keep my promise" said Erica feeling guilty for sending Natsu on the mission.
But finally snapping out of her sorrow she questioned the three about the incident. The three then calmed down a bit and started explaining things while still sulking. Elfman kept quiet the whole time, not because he didn't know what happened but because he had fatally injured Natsu. Mira and Lisanna took turns t explain what happened. The last part of the description was the most difficult to reveal but they forced themselves anyways. When all was said and done they expected Elfman to be bombarded with insults and accusations but that didn't happen. It was quite the opposite just as Natsu had said 'don't blame Elfman for it'.
No one surrounding the three didn't even raise a finger at Elfman. Then Erica gave the three a hug while crying.
"Thank god you're safe. Natsu… did a good job, I guess!" said Erica tears still streaming down her face.
Hearing these words, the three were so relieved that they burst into tears, especially Elfman who had been spared of the accusations. This moment of tranquility was short lived as the guild hall doors burst open and Lily and Erza came into the guild, with Happy on top of Lily's head. They saw the gathering and went up to it and saw Erica and the Strauss siblings' faces. They had fresh tear marks due to all the crying.
Lily immediately enquired about the situation. The siblings froze up as they knew the person most affected by Natsu's death would be Liliana. Erica signaled them to stand down.
Erica then held Lily by her shoulders and said "Listen to me well and don't blame them for it". She then explained that Natsu had gone on an S-Class mission with the Strauss siblings for a monster subjugation and how during the mission Natsu died while protecting the three standing there. Happy didn't really know the weight of the word 'die' yet so he just listened.
At the end of the description, Liliana had her face hanging down with her bangs covering her eyes. Then she gritted her teeth and rushed forward towards Mira and held her by the collar. Happy just flew off of her head and started circling around Erza.
"How could you…?" she said in a low voice which no one heard except Mira. "HOW COULD YOU DO THAT? HOW COULD YOU NOT TAKE CARE OF MY BROTHER?" she yelled. Erica tried to stop but failed badly.
"WHAT ARE YOU S-CLASS FOR, THEN?" Lily continued. "You let him… let him… DIE!". Mira didn't say a word she just accepted the accusations placed on her tears flowing down her depressed, sullen face. She couldn't reply.
"I'LL NEVER FORGIVE YOU THIS!" said Lily as she threw Mira back, gave a cold glance to both Mira and Elfman and walked out of the guild hall. Erza listening to all this felt that Lily went a little overboard but also, kind of, agreed with Lily's reasoning. Hearing the loss of a family member had struck her too but she didn't cry, albeit her eyes teared up. She then ran off with Erica to comfort and calm Lily down followed by Happy.
Everyone was dumbfounded at Lily's sudden outburst, but then realized that she was one who loved Natsu the most and was also the closest to him. Mira felt the worst at the moment because she was probably forgiven by all of the guild members except the one from whom she expected forgiveness the most.
Makarov who saw this, didn't expect his family to suffer like this, but the loss of one of most active members of Fairy Tail was surely something that nobody could just shrug off, even after a long time. Though he was also pretty shaken up by the fact that one of people who could challenge his patience was gone. The first person to call him 'gramps' was gone. He was going to miss that kid.
He steeled himself and came onto the stage and announced "Natsu's gone and I know it is a regrettable loss, but we should give him a proper sendoff".
Everyone hearing the announcement hesitantly agreed to the idea. The guild members were definitely affected by the loss but the most affected ones were the ones that interacted with Natsu the most. They were going to need a lot of support and courage to overcome the hurdle, if at all its possible.
The day was very long and very quiet, no one spoke. Even the regular and active members were very quiet. They didn't even move to do their routines. Everyone just sat at the guild tables and had distant look on their faces. No one even had the will to move, they were so lost in grief of the death of their family member.
Finally, the day had ended and it was time to return to home. Everyone had a hard time leaving the Strauss siblings for they had suffered the biggest trauma of all them all. But they pushed themselves anyway and helped the three kids return home.
The next day…
Everyone had gathered at the back of the guild where the grave of past fairy tail guild members resided. There stood another grave, a new one with the name 'NATSU DRAGNEEL'. It was a terrible sight to look at, no one had imagined it would be so difficult to face the death of a beloved. Everyone standing there either had tears in their eyes or had their face hung in sorrow.
"How am I going to surpass you now, idiot!?" muttered Gray. "This is the second goal I've lost in my life now…".
"Why did you have to go, Natsu?" said Happy who was with Erica and Lily. Happy had asked where his foster father went that day night only to understand that he was 'gone to a distant place from where he can never return'.
Then, Makarov gave his parting words and paid his respects, followed by all the other guild members. After that everyone returned to the guild, where Lily decided to apologize to Mira for her actions.
"I'm sorry for acting that way" said Lily. "I just couldn't believe what happened yesterday".
"You don't have to apologize to me, I know it is my fault after all" replied Mira. "I just couldn't do anything there; I really am no good for an S-Class rank".
Lily understood the implication all too well and couldn't reply because of the bitterness still lingering from yesterday. Happy didn't say anything following Lily's actions, because he didn't quite understand stuff that much. They just stood there and then suddenly Lily just hugged Mira and burst into tears.
"Bring him back" she said softly while crying. "I can't imagine a world without Natsu!".
Hearing this Mira also started crying. Seeing this the other two standing there joined in the hug trying to console the two girls. Lily still couldn't forgive Mira, albeit asking for forgiveness, but she didn't show any hostility towards her.
This caused severe unrest among the guild members and that day too just dragged on. The guild had the same atmosphere for about a week or so, after which almost everyone returned to their daily routines. Though they had come back to routine the missing guild brawls, the irritating ranting and insult exchange between two rivals was definitely missing and very noticeable especially by the involved parties.
No one knew how the future fairy tail will be without Natsu, but everyone had one thing very well set in their mind, it was to protect the current and upcoming generations of fairy tail with all their might, so as to not experience the same pain ever again.
A/N: This is it for the sixth chap guys. More awesome stuff awaits you so, see you in the next chapter. Until then bye bye...